Power Out, Trees Fall as Hurricane Crosses Bermuda

Photo Credit: AP / Alexander Gerst / ESA / NASAHurricane Gonzalo crushed trees, flattened power lines and damaged Bermuda’s main hospital during an hours-long battering that was the second pummeling of the tiny British territory by a powerful storm in less than a week.

The storm’s center crossed over Bermuda during Friday night and its winds and heavy surf were still whipping at the island early Saturday as Gonzalo moved northward over the Atlantic.

Forecasters warned of the danger of a storm surge of 10 feet (3 meters) that could cause widespread flooding, but a full assessment of damages likely wouldn’t come until daylight.

Just under half of the island’s 70,000 people were reported without power late Friday as the hurricane roared through, just days after Tropical Storm Fay damaged homes and also knocked down trees and power lines.

“To be struck twice by two different cyclones is unusual, to say the least,” said Max Mayfield, a former director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.